Jersey City’s long-running Artists’ Studio Tour last fall coincided with the second annual Golden Door International Film Festival, which posed something of a challenge for anyone who wanted to catch both events.

While that scheduling conflict will not be repeated this year, many residents still missed a number of the best films screened during last year’s film festival.

As a way to boost interest in the upcoming 2013 Golden Door International Film Festival, organizers have planned a Best of the Fest evening on March 16 that will highlight three of the top movies that were screened last year. This one-night mini festival, to be held at Art House Productions, will also give those who missed the festival last year a chance to see some of what they missed.

“Because of the overlap last year, a lot of people probably did miss a lot of what we screened,” said actor and festival founder Bill Sorvino, a Jersey City native. “But we want to keep up a certain momentum, keep people interested in the festival. We want the community to remember us and remember that we’ll be back with our third festival later this year.”

Coming to a screen near you

Best of the Fest will include screenings of three films, two shorts – “Pollination” and “My Time with the English Tourist” – and one feature, “Maybe Tomorrow.”

Sorvino said these three films were selected because most of them have some tie to Hudson County or New York City.

“John Dunstan, who made ‘My Time with the English Tourist,’ lives in Jersey City and he’s just a great local guy. He’s got so much talent that I feel like I just want to promote him, ‘cause his work is so good. So that’s why we’re screening his movie again. ‘Pollination’ by Sam Borowski comes from the shorter end of the short films we screened last year at the full festival and it was the best of the short shorts we had. Sam is a Jersey guy. And ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ by Michael Wolfe, who lives in New York, was the best feature length movie we had at the 2012 festival and it won a lot of [Golden Door] festival awards. So, we really wanted to give people another chance to see that. All of these films have a local tie, but they also happen to be among the best films we had.”

All three of the filmmakers, Sorvino added, will be on hand for the screening and may participate in a Q&A with the audience.

_____________ ‘These films…represent the work of local filmmakers.’ – Bill Sorvino____________

The films will be screened at Art House Productions, at 1 McWilliams Place, at Hamilton Park in downtown Jersey City. Seating is limited to about 100 people, so be sure to get tickets early.

Golden Door organizers are planning another Best of the Fest later this year that, like the one in March, will highlight a handful of the 40 independent films that were screened as part of last year’s full festival. That Best of the Fest will feature a different line-up of films than the five being screened this month.

Tickets for Best of the Fest are $20 and will include entry to an after party at GP’s restaurant. Tickets can purchased through the web site www.BrownPaperTickets.com. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the films starting at 7:30.

Festival/Tour weekend

Naturally, Sorvino and the other Golden Door organizers hope that Best of the Fest piques interest in the larger film festival in the fall.

The October festival will feature dozens of independent films from both established and emerging filmmakers from around the world – and right here in New Jersey. Last year’s festival included the participation of everyone from Oscar winners and Oscar nominees to recent film school grads and first-time filmmakers.

Organizers are currently accepting film entries for the second Golden Door International Film Festival in October. For more information, visit www.GoldenDoorFilmFestival.org. The web site also includes additional information regarding Best of the Fest.